Mistakes cost Otters a win in season opener at Bosse Field

Over 3,500 see CornBelters triumph

ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS
Evansville's Bryce Morrow (43) throws a pitch in the first inning of Friday night's game against the Normal CornBelters at Bosse Field.

ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS
Evansville’s Taylor Black (5) beats Normal’s Patrick McKenna (6) back to second base during the second inning of Friday night’s game at Bosse Field.$RETURN$$RETURN$

ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS
Normal’s Santiago Chirino (12) and Patrick McKenna (6) scramble to get a loose ball which was over thrown as Evansville’s C.J. Henry (22) slides safely into second base during the third inning of Friday night’s game at Bosse Field.

The Evansville Otters committed three errors on Friday night, lost another ball in the lights, had their would-be tying runner caught stealing and surrendered a go-ahead, ground-ball triple that scored two runs.

And that was just first 5 1/3 innings of the Otters' Frontier League baseball opener.

The early setbacks cost Evansville in its 6-4 loss to the Normal CornBelters with an announced crowd of 3,553 at Bosse Field.

"They were physical errors — not really fundamental," said Otters manager Andy McCauley. "We're going to make errors, and that's part of the game. But there are times when you've got to make plays. We just didn't tonight, and that was the difference in the game."

Still, McCauley said he saw a lot more good than bad to start a three-game set with the CornBelters. Part of that was the gutsy play of shortstop Taylor Black, who took a ball to the nose while trying to bunt in his first at bat and played through it.

Black committed one of those errors in the fifth inning, and during the next at-bat he let a hard-rolling ball get past him that went all the way to the wall and broke a 1-1 tie for good.

"I think his nose is broken," McCauley said. "He's broken his nose four times, so it's a little susceptible Those were two pretty well-hit balls. He'll tell you right now he needs to make the play. He isn't using that as an excuse."

Evansville did load the bases in the first and second innings but produced just one run from it. Then Normal capitalized on mistakes, scoring runs in each of the three innings the Otters committed an error.

"I think we just need to take our early work a little more seriously tomorrow and hopefully that will carry over," said designated hitter Andrew Clark. "It's a tough field. You don't always get the truest hops. But at the same time, those are plays that have to be made. If we don't make those errors, then we probably win that game."

Aside from the fielding flaws, there were bright spots for the Otters.

Newcomers Clark, John Shultz (center field) and C.J. Henry (right field) each notched multi-hit games. Schultz tallied three of them from the leadoff spot, and Clark drove in two runs.

His second RBI came as part of a two-run play in seventh, when he lined a single to right that scored one. Normal's Steven Felix throw the ball over the third baseman's head, scoring another that pulled Evansville to within a run.

The CornBelters added an insurance run in the top of the eighth, however, on left fielder Romulo Ruiz's solo home run that set the final score. Evansville went in order in its half of the eighth and stranded Henry following his leadoff hit by pitch in the ninth to fall to 0-1.